Thread: Fun with a stone saw!

Good eye. I was wondering when someone was going to ask about the barber hones.

I had three barber hones that were chipped significantly enough that I had no inclination to spend hours lapping them. You're exactly right, I figured they'd make excellent slurry stones for low to medium grit stones. I think they'd be perfect for the Norton 4000 side. Trouble is, I don't own a Norton any longer to try one. I also think that as a slurry stone for the Norton 4k, they'd make an excellent training aid for new honers since it would create a tinted slurry which helps in showing where your blade is or isn't hitting.

Interestingly, one of the hones (was broken previously and was not identifiable) would just crumble halfway into the cuts and was junk.

The other two worked well. So really, I don't know what I'm going to do with them.......yet.

In the center, you'll also notice a mystery stone with two slurry stones on top of it. That's what some have said, and I agree, is a very cool looking slate polishing stone. I picked it up for a buck at a garage sale. I'll bring it to the MN meet up.

Chris L

Great idea & nice job.
Not much loss from sawblade kerf by the looks of it.

Did you use a rip fence or eyeball all the cuts ?

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Did you use a rip fence or eyeball all the cuts ?

I wanted to make a rip fence by clamping a jointed board to the sliding table but found after getting the saw home that it really wouldn't have worked without a bunch or monkey business.

The sliding table had a straight edge lip that worked well enough to use pressure pushing the stones down and back toward me (against that raised lip). It was "square enough" as was the blade to the table so it worked well. I found the trick to getting smooth cuts is to avoid stopping for any reason during the cut. Stopping, backing up, etc makes for a rough poorly cut edge.

Chris L

Thanx Chris L - been wanting to try that. I discovered my neighbour has one of those saws.

Hmmm... If you were able to cut the Shapton Glass Hone, that glass is not tempered. My experience with cutting (attempting to cut) tempered glass is that it shatters immediately into the little, easily swept up cubes that we associate with violated tempered glass. Perhaps the Japanese have other meanings for "tempered" glass, annealed perhaps, stress relieved maybe, but if you can cut that Shapton it ain't our tempered type glass. That little vent takes nothing away from the hone; glass is glass and that glass it is a remarkably stable material which is, by all accounts, a substrate wonderfully suited to strengthen and stabilize the honing matrix bonded to it.

and so it goes,

I'll be bringing Randy's half to the meet, so we can all inspect it then. I'm sure he'll be excited to put it to use.

Chris L